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Law student covers college football for The New York Times

While sipping coffee and reading the morning news, you might notice a familiar University of Toledo name in the byline of one of the nation’s most prestigious papers, The New York Times.

Carty

Jim Carty, a third-year student in the UT College of Law, has been a freelance writer covering college sports for The New York Times since 2008.

“When I was asked to write for The Times, my first thought was how happy it would make my mom because she grew up in Brooklyn and was an avid reader of the newspaper all of her life,” Carty said. “But to be asked to write for them more than once — that is always nice because they must have liked your work the first time.”

The journalist first was approached in fall 2008 when he started classes at UT to write an article for The New York Times about a football game between Ohio State and Michigan State. Carty then was asked to write several more articles after that about various college teams.

The New York Times learned of Carty from his work as a sports columnist for The Ann Arbor News. He worked for the newspaper from 2002 to 2008, but always has held an interest in law. To achieve his ambitions, he took the LSAT and was accepted into the UT College of Law in 2008.

To focus on his classes at UT, Carty decided to put The New York Times writing on hold for 2009, but the newspaper kept him in its rotation of writers to contact him when needed.

In August, The Times did just that, looking for Carty to write an article about the renovation of the University of Michigan’s stadium. Knowing he had a less-demanding schedule then previous years, Carty agreed to write again. And he has since written a number of articles for The New York Times about University of Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan State football.

The New Jersey native initially attended college interested in pre-law, but after he became involved in Syracuse University’s periodical, Carty was drawn to journalism. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Carty, who will graduate in December, said he believes it is a natural process for a journalist to transition into law due to the long hours of work dealing with research and writing in both fields.

“Jim is an exceptional student. He is the quintessential law student with exceptional writing skills and is one of the brightest students I’ve ever had,” said Marilyn Preston, legal writing professor in the UT College of Law. “His journalism background was a benefit for my course because it requires the ability to analyze cases and write in a concise and precise manner.”

“I have had a tremendous experience here at UT. I came in not knowing what to expect, and I love the size of the school,” Carty said. “The professors are very student-oriented and it is so great to establish that relationship with everyone.”

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Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at
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